+ Click to Enlarge A VERY RAPID GHOST: The Bear Racing "Ghost Rider" Kawasaki ZX-12R Turbo kicks out a claimed 375kW and can run a standing quarter mile (402m) in less than seven seconds.

June 8, 2007

The 375kW Bear Racing "Ghost Rider" Kawasaki ZX-12R Turbo, billed as Africa's most powerful motorcycle, will run for the first time in South Africa at the at the National drag-racing championship meeting at Tarlton on June 17 – in the hands of eight-times World champion Ricky Gadson.

The bike was built in 2002 by legendary American tuner Rob Muzzy, whose bikes have won 19 US road-racing, drag-racing, motocross and flat-track National championships and one World Superbike title.

Muzzy wanted to prove that modern liquid-cooled, fuel-injected engines were better than the older designs commonly used in drag racing

All the top riders were using non-turbo engines force-fed with nitrous oxide – even though turbos and fuel-injection were legal in the Pro Modified class - because turbo motors bogged down on the start line.

The bike caused an uproar; on its first outing it ran the quarter mile in 6.83sec at 316.3/kmh. Predictably, there were calls for the class regulations to be changed to outlaw the Muzzy machine but it was raced for two seasons on the US Pro Modified circuit before being sold to make way for something even faster.

Leading SA drag-racing outfit Bear Racing is a family enterprise, with Pierre and Bernadine Labuschagne managing off-track activities while JP, Jan, Maureen (South Africa’s quickest lady) and thirteen-year- old Kuene do the riding.

Pierre Labuschagne took up the story: "I set my sights on this bike when it was for sale in the US five years ago but South African drag racing had no class for it in 2003 so I let it slide and Rob Muzzy sold it to Kawasaki Hungary.

"Since then we've got the Pro Street class going well and we'll have a Top Bike class running in 2008 so the time was right. The Hungarians weren't keen to sell but I went to Europe and made them an offer they couldn't refuse."

The big Kawasaki will need a rebuild before it races here in earnest in 2008 but eight-times World drag-racing champion Ricky Gadson has come out from the US to give rider JP Labuschagne a few tips on taming the monster.

He will give the bike a demonstration run at the SA National championship race meeting at Tarlton on June 17.

It was originally built with him in mind as the rider and he did some practice runs on it in 2002 but circumstances prevented him racing it; now he intends trying for his quickest time yet outside the US.

An expensive game

Racing a machine like the Bear Ghost Rider Kawasaki ZX-12R Turbo is expensive; the bike only runs about 2km at an average meeting but the engine has to be rebuilt after every second event.

It burns about five litres of 116-octane fuel (at R125 a litre) in less than seven seconds on each 400-metre run, and running costs are about R7000 a meeting.

That's about R3500 per kilometre, or R200 a second, for the dubious pleasure of scaring yourself witless! And, of course, costs escalate horribly if you crash or blow up the engine.

Further information from Pierre or Bernadine Labuschagne on (011) 823-2460.